11 replies to this topic

[MikeJudd]

I am noticing with much distress that when I open RM there are considerable blocks of data missing. I find data I entered within the last week
but entire lines i.e. from a different gramps onward are missing that were entered 2 years ago or more. This makes me think I am not simply getting an earlier
version of my back-up (would it do that?) when I open my database. I just migrated from Vista to Win7 with no apparent issues. Any help appreciated
thanks. Mike

[Alfred]

How are you opening your database?

Are you restoring a backup each time? If so, it would overwrite and nullify anything you entered since that backup was created.

You MAY have multiple databases and are sometimes loading an old one rather than the most recent one.

I do not know what you are doing, but I have a shortcut icon for RootsMagic on my desktop.
I have RootsMagic set to open the last used database upon startup.
I CAN then load another database with or without closing my main one if I want.
If I see a notice upon closing down about backing up ALL databases, I cancel and check the Windows menu to see what other database(s) I may have open and, close any I don't want to backup or load the next time I start RootsMagic.

[MikeJudd]

Thanks for your thoughts on this. Responses below.

How are you opening your database? I just open the program and it opens, I do not specify any particular backup file so assume it uses the
most recent.

Are you restoring a backup each time? If so, it would overwrite and nullify anything you entered since that backup was created. No

You MAY have multiple databases and are sometimes loading an old one rather than the most recent one. I may have created problems by having another
database open to enter data from. It was another name though with little overlap so I would not have thought it did anything too fowl.

I do not know what you are doing, but I have a shortcut icon for RootsMagic on my desktop. As do I.
I have RootsMagic set to open the last used database upon startup. Any reason it would not do this as a default action? I understand it would open the most
recently used database but otherwise?
I CAN then load another database with or without closing my main one if I want.
If I see a notice upon closing down about backing up ALL databases, I cancel and check the Windows menu to see what other database(s) I may have open and, close any I don't want to backup or load the next time I start RootsMagic.

[MikeJudd]

Thanks for your thoughts on this. Responses below.

I should add that I am using ver 3.2.6 if there are known problems...

[MikeJudd]

I should add that I am using ver 3.2.6 if there are known problems...

I am now trying to restore previous back-ups made during the last couple of weeks. Of the 3 I have
tried, none has worked. Each says 'back up not restored'. I assume my database is corrupted, perhaps
not making real back-ups? Any suggestions?

[Alfred]

I cannot guess what might be the problem.

I have never encountered a problem with either backing up or restoring a backup, so I am at a loss to offer suggestions.

Have you set the Tools - Options - Folders so that it is not trying to restore into the program files area?

By the way, what version of Windows are you running? 98, XP, Vista or 7? That may have some bearing on the solution.

[MikeJudd]

I cannot guess what might be the problem.

I have never encountered a problem with either backing up or restoring a backup, so I am at a loss to offer suggestions.

Have you set the Tools - Options - Folders so that it is not trying to restore into the program files area?

By the way, what version of Windows are you running? 98, XP, Vista or 7? That may have some bearing on the solution.

A curious factoid I ran into one the RM forum - under Vista you don't have full privileges (administrative)and I had
noticed the problem several times over the last couple of weeks on this Vista OS. I updated a few days back to Win7
and just tried opening RM as administrator (an option I was not aware of) and voila! it restores the backups that would
not before when using the time-honored conventional method. So this is a caveat for both Vista and Win7 that I think
might well be published. Alas, only part of the data is restored with this back-up. As I do back-up whenever closing the
program (and its default is indeed to open the last used database) I am still some perplexed as to which back up to use as
each one over-writes the existing database...I guess it won't hurt to experiment, just take time redoing. Thanks again.

[Romer]

Mike, like Alfred, I was hoping that you'd perhaps inadvertently entered data in one database when another one might've been the appropriate one. RM 3.2.6 was very stable due to years of development to get it to that point, so I'd definitely not expect for any data to just disappear.

Unfortunately, that error message might support that notion of dat corruption. Do you receive any additional error message information when you try to restore? (Hopefully you've not tried to restore the backups over your current database files!) As a test, try exporting a GEDCOM file to see if it's successful. If it's not, your database could very well be corrupted.

However, another possibility could be in play. In what path are you storing your database files? This is a bigger concern under Vista (and likely Windows 7?), which doesn't like for your data to be stored anywhere under certain program-related folders (Program Files?). Actually, while you're at it, do a search of all hard drives to see where the .rmg files are located, how many there are, and what the names are.

Had you ever tried to move your data over from another computer on which the program had originally been installed? Something could've gone awry there, as well. This could particularly be the case if you were moving between an XP or earlier computer to one with Vista or Windows 7.

Did you move from Vista on one machine to Windows 7 on another or did you just install Windows 7 on the same computer?

Just trying to throw out some questions that might lead to discovering what could be causing the problem. There could be others, but these were the ones that initially came to mind.

* Edited to add that I didn't see your previous post appear until after I'd posted this one . . .

[Alfred]

If you change the name of the current database,( Files - Rename ) or restore the backup in a different folder than the current database, you can get by without overwriting it.

I set my Files options to keep the data OUT OF the program files folder.

C:\MD\RM4 Data
C:\MD\RM4 Data\backups
With the GEDCOM etc. folders in there too

I set Windows to recognize C:\MD as "My Documents" and, I always sign on as the administrator.
(I just hate it when Microsoft tries to tell me what I can and cannot do with my own computer.)

[MikeJudd]

If you change the name of the current database,( Files - Rename ) or restore the backup in a different folder than the current database, you can get by without overwriting it.

I set my Files options to keep the data OUT OF the program files folder.

C:\MD\RM4 Data
C:\MD\RM4 Data\backups
With the GEDCOM etc. folders in there too

I set Windows to recognize C:\MD as "My Documents" and, I always sign on as the administrator.
(I just hate it when Microsoft tries to tell me what I can and cannot do with my own computer.)

Thanks to you both. It appears I have (surprise surprise) been the culprit of confusing different databases. The idea
to rename the present one did allow me to restore an earlier known version without over-writing, which yes I had been
doing each time before. All the zip files (backups) seem to be in RM folder where I assume they belong and there is
only one rmg folder which I take to be the current database (?) also there. I shall try to hobble along and am better
for having heard from both of you. Indeed, Windows once was fun but I guess they don't want you to try to sort out
your own data on your own w/o following the conventions they appear to have adopted for novices. Thanks.

[kbens0n]

The ideato rename the present one did allow me to restore an earlier known version without over-writing, which yes I had been
doing each time before.

You are not the first to have suffered at the hands of this assumption (that Restore would open up a database from a previous backup separately and independently of any more up-to-date existing one (of the same name)... instead it would overwrite in Version 3.x. There was even a mention today:

http://forums.rootsm...dpost__p__31976

Apparently, RM version 4.x no longer allows for this overwriting directly to an open database (avoiding loss of more recent work). The user must close out their database (and hopefully back it up immediately) before a backup of the same-named database can be restored to the default folder for databases (set in Options).

[vbible]

I too started having problems with data disappearing (actually just being blank, it was still there) with RM 3.2.6. I entered my problem on the forum (see vbible) but apparently no one could help me. I just bit the bullet and purchased RM 4 and my problem was fixed. Version 4 has a few extras that make it worth the twenty bucks.